Trump diplomacy: how will it affect China?
Experts advise patience in early days of new US administration
When US president-elect Donald Trump pronounced the death of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, many in China saw it as a sign of the decline of the American-led world trading order and a chance for China to rise to the occasion and rewrite the rules.
Trump’s background as a billionaire businessman earned him goodwill and even popularity among Chinese people during the US presidential election campaign and immediately after his victory in November, especially since his opponent, Hillary Clinton, had a reputation as a harsh critic of China.
Trump’s lack of foreign policy experience also gave many Chinese analysts the false hope he might confine his tough rhetoric in US-China relations to economic issues, and ignore long-standing and bitter political disputes between the two countries.
But that optimism ended on December 2, 24 days after the election, when Trump accepted a congratulatory phone call from Tsai Ing-wen, the president of the self-ruled island of Taiwan, which China sees as a breakaway province.
Trump has proven to be more volatile than expected with his frequent outbursts against China on the campaign trail and his Twitter postings, even testing China’s most sensitive “red line” issue with remarks challenging the one-China principle.
